MoD strikes restaurant off Vikrant 'menu'

MUMBAI: After the intial uncertainty about its fate, the decommissioned aircraft carrier Vikrant is well on its way to becoming a maritime museum by 2006. However, there''s a new, albeit very minor, hiccupâ€”the ministry of defence has rejected a proposal to set up a restaurant on its premises.According to sources, the ministry opposed the idea because it felt that this could deviate from the real purpose of the naval museumâ€”viz, to educate the public about the role of the Indian navy, especially its aviation wing. "Defence ministry officials feel that most visitors will spend time in the restaurant and not bother to view all the exhibits," says a source. "However, the ministry has no objection to snacks."The idea of a restaurant was mooted in a report submitted by Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE) to the state government in 2000. TCE had recommended that the ship be converted into a navalmuseum and berthed at Oyster Rock, off Sassoon Dock in Colaba. It also suggested a restaurant in the ship''s lower deck, a conference room and a souvenir shop. "The defence ministry is not opposed to the last two," says the source.How much weight does the defence ministry''s rejection carry? Not much, say sources, who point out that once the vessel becomes a ful l - fledged maritime museum in 2006, it will be taken over by the state government.Why, they ask, should the state government follow the suggestion of the defence ministry with regard to the restaurant?Vikrant, whose glory days were during the 1971 Indo-Pak war and also the Goa liberation war in the ''60s, was decommissioned on January 31, 1997. Since then it has been battling for survival with one school of opinion in favour of making it a museum, while quite a few opposing it.